Digital health inequity in Australian primary care

BACKGROUND: Digital health interventions have the potential to improve health and wellbeing at both individual and population levels. However, the rapid development of digital health risks reinforcing existing health inequities. Addressing the digital divide is important for the sustainability of digital health innovations. OBJECTIVE: To examine definitions of digital healthcare access, identify challenges for patients, practitioners and the primary healthcare system, and propose practical strategies to reduce digital health inequities. DISCUSSION: For patients, barriers include limited access to reliable internet and devices, variable digital health literacy and concerns about trust and safety. For practitioners, technologies that are poorly integrated into clinical workflows might disrupt care and increase administrative burden. At a system level, mechanisms for the secure collection, exchange and ethical use of social determinants of health data remain underdeveloped. To realise its potential, digital health must be implemented in ways that reduce, not reinforce health inequities.